


Children In Soldiers' Clothing

by Anonymous



Series: L'Manburg's Rise And Fall, As Told By Children In Soldiers' Clothing [10]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, I am a Niki apologist first, Jack Manifold-centric, Jack wants to stop being hurt, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Niki wants L'Manburg to stop hurting her brothers, Older Sibling Niki | Nihachu, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Short Story, a jack apologist second, and a writer third, but less calm and more apprehensive, like seriously all of his canon deaths are funny until you look close, niki | Nihachu centric, please, please give the kids stability, the calm before the storm type story, they're teenagers, written before January 16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28787685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: When you give something to a child, they often remember it. It effects them whether you know it or not. If you give one child a hug and another nothing, they will both remember. One child will remember love, and the other will remember coldness.Or: Niki and Jack talk about their plan, but it's more of a silent plea for safety
Relationships: Jack Manifold & Niki | Nihachu
Series: L'Manburg's Rise And Fall, As Told By Children In Soldiers' Clothing [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013610
Comments: 12
Kudos: 176
Collections: Anonymous





	Children In Soldiers' Clothing

**Author's Note:**

> Let them speak!!!! Take them seriously!!!!!! They founded L'Manburg too!!!! 
> 
> CW: mentions of scars, child soldiers, and implied murder plot

It's quiet in Jack's house, despite the two people inhabiting it.

Niki leans on her elbows at the kitchen table, chin in her hands. She stares at the chipped wood and wonders how Jack's house survived. She's glad it did.

Jack sits on the counter next to the sink. He picks at scarred over skin and thinks about how he got it. He swings his legs back and forth. 

In this moment, they look like the teenagers that they are supposed to be, if you ignore the discolored skin. If you ignore Niki's weak knee, with her leg propped on another chair. If you ignore the way Jack's ears ring constantly. 

(If you ignore the uniforms they've both burnt, the ones they've worn since they were young)

Jack is the first to break the silence.

"Are we going through with this, then?" 

Niki hums. 

"I want to."

"Okay."

They lapse into silence again. 

There ain't exactly joy in planning to kill the youngest founder of L'Manburg, but it is their only choice. They've both been hurt so, so many times by him and his actions. 

(They forget that he is a child, too)

(They forget that they themselves are only eighteen and nineteen individually)

They forget that the true enemy is the adult who started it all. They are only teenagers. Can you blame their war-weary souls and terror-riddled minds for coming up with the wrong answer?

Jack sighs. Niki looks up.

"I need you to promise me something." He says.

He sounds tired. Niki nods.

"Don't hurt me."

Silence.

"Please. That's all I need out of this. Don't hurt me, and I'll make sure you stay safe, too. Don't want you dying on me." 

Niki finds herself staring dumbly. Jack is one year younger than her, she knows. Jack has lost all of his lives to people he was supposed to trust. 

(Wilbur, Tommy, Technoblade, in order)

(Niki doesn't know where it went wrong)

"Of course. No one's going to hurt you, I'll make sure of it myself. No one will ever walk on us again. We will be seen, and they won't be able to come close." 

She promises. 

Jack nods.

"Okay." He says.

"Okay." She says.

It is quiet in Jack's house.

They are all that's left of Old L'Manburg (at least all that they trust).

Niki and Jack refuse to wear armor in his yard, in his house. This is still L'Manburg, but they are so swept under the rug that no one wants to acknowledge it. 

The sun starts to set. 

Niki leaves the house with a wave and a promise to keep her brother safe. Jack sends her off with a wave and a promise that his sister's voice will be heard.

They are only teenagers. 

(They are scared and alone and ignored)

(Jack will not die.)

(Niki will not sit silently.)

**Author's Note:**

> I think about the fact that Jack was killed by two of the people he trusted and one person that, if he were more active in the Pogtopia arc, would have also trusted (until the inevitable ofc but yanno)
> 
> I think about the fact that Niki put her all into L'Manburg and still got spoken over and ignored by almost everyone, while also being their pillar of support and love
> 
> I also think abt the fact that they're only eighteen and nineteen
> 
> I think about this a lot 
> 
> Give em justice


End file.
